The late Frank Zappa only lived here for a few years as a teenager in the mid-1950s, when he attended Grossmont High School as a freshman and Mission Bay High School as a sophomore.

But those few years were pivotal for the future music legend, who was 52 when he died of prostate cancer in 1993. His formidable artistic legacy — or at least part of it — will be celebrated at Sunday’s ﻿concert at House of Blues by Zappa Plays Zappa, the virtuosic band led by his son, Dweezil, 41.

While living here, the elder Zappa bought his first record player at Valley Music in El Cajon and joined his first rock band, The Ramblers, as a drummer. He performed in the Mission Bay High School marching band alongside future San Diego jazz sax star Gary LeFebvre, and was a regular at downtown's Arcade Records, where he and fellow teen-aged music buff Lou Curtiss would scour the bins for prized blues and doo-wop releases. (Curtiss went on to open Folk Arts Rare Records, launch the San Diego Folk Festival and mentor such notable area musicians as A.J. Croce, Gregory Page, Mojo Nixon and Tom Waits, who in the 1970's had the same manager as Zappa.)

Zappa also experienced his first epiphany with contemporary classical music after he went to Alan’s Music Center in La Mesa and bought “The Complete Works of Edgar Varèse, Volume I,” which showcased one of the most innovative classical composers of the 20th century.

“The music teacher at Grossmont was a guy named Benton Minor, who signed all his passes ‘B. Minor,’ ” Zappa told me during a 1984 San Diego Union interview.

“Robert Kavelman was my music teacher at Mission Bay. I don’t know if they’re still there, but I’d like to tip my hat to them. Kavelman was the first to introduce me to 12-tone music. They were my teachers in orchestra and marching band. There were no composition classes, because American public schools don’t offer them.”

A potent guitarist, a droll singer and an often visionary composer, Zappa created a stunning body of work that drew from rock, classical, blues, jazz, doo-wop, funk and much more. Dweezil formed Zappa Plays Zappa in 2006 to honor his dad’s multifaceted music and bring it to a new generation.

“What this experience offers audiences is a chance to hear real musicians — not just people operating computers — speaking a musical language on stage,” Dweezil noted in a 2009 Night&Day interview.

Sunday’s concert will feature a performance of Frank Zappa’s only Top 10 album, 1974’s “Apostrophe,” in its entirety, along with other works from his vast repertoire. The seven-piece Zappa Plays Zappa band features San Diego native Jamie Kime on guitar and drum wiz Joe Travers, a periodic musical partner of San Diego guitar great (and former Frank Zappa band member) Mike Keneally.